"They say, 'Oh, you can't get these [HIV treatment] drugs to the farthest reaches of Africa.' Yet we can get cold fizzy drinks there. You know, let's talk to Coca-Cola about using their infrastructure and their refrigerated trucks." — Bono

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Love is come again I am gone again Love is the end of history The enemy of misery Love is come again I am gone again Love is justice, not charity Love brings with it a clarity Love is come again I'm alive again Alive

-Mercy

Lyric of the Day

"(Beautiful Day's) lyric expresses amazement, really, that whatever situation you find yourself in, as uncomfortable and upsetting as they can be, if you're alive and you are awake, then you have perspective on it... Pain is evidence of life because it reminds you there are things in your life that aren't right. So you should be thankful for it really and celebrate that there is so much to live for." - Bono describing Beautiful Day in 2006

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Silver And Gold - Live From Denver 1987 Lyrics

Found On:

Rattle And Hum (1988)

Note: U2 has released different versions of most singles in different countries. We are not showing every cover image in this space, just one that's representative of each release.

"I was listening to a John Lee Hooker track and I asked, 'Who's playing the drums?' 'That's his foot,' Keith [Richards] said. 'He was just kicking at the floorboards.' I was blown out of it. I left with my head in a spin and I went back to my hotel room on my own and wrote 'Silver And Gold' and tried to apply what I'd just heard to the project at hand, which was an anti-apartheid record. I called Keith the next day and said, 'Can I come round, I've got a song I'd like to play for you? Maybe you'd like to play on it?' Keith said, 'Sure.' So I recorded an acoustic version of this, my first blues song, with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood." - Bono, U2 By U2 2006

In the shithouse a shotgun Praying hands hold me down Only the hunter was hunted In this tin can town Tin can town

No stars in the black night Looks like the sky fall down No sun in the daylight Looks like it's chained to the ground Chained to the ground

The warden said the exit is sold If you want a way out Silver and gold

Broken back to the ceiling Broken nose to the floor I scream at the silence, it's crawling It crawls under the door There's a rope around my neck And there's a trigger in a gun Jesus say something I am someone, I am someone I am someone

Captains and kings in the ships hold They came to collect Silver and gold Silver and gold

See the coming and the going Seen them captains and the kings See them navy blue uniforms See them bright and shiny things Bright, shiny things, yeah

The temperature is rising The fever white hot Mister, I ain't got nothing But it's more than you got Chains no longer bind me Not the shackles at my feet Outside are the prisoners Inside the free Set them free Set them free

A prize fighter in a corner is told Hit where it hurts Silver and gold Silver and gold

Yeah, silver and gold. This song was written in a hotel room in New York City right about the time a friend of ours, Little Steven, was putting together a record of artists against apartheid. It's a song written about a man in a shantytown outside of Johannesburg, a man who's sick of looking down the barrel of white South Africa, a man who is at the point where he is ready to take up arms against his oppressor, a man who has lost faith in the peace makers of the west while they argue and while they fail to support a man like Bishop Tutu and his request for economic sanctions against South Africa. Am I bugging you? Don't mean to bug ya. Ok Edge, play the blues.